Greetings,

Just pop open the main Messenger window by double-clicking on its icon in the notification
area, or click Start, then Run, enter "msmsgs" and click OK. Then click the Tools menu,
click the Preferences tab, and uncheck 'Run Windows Messenger when Windows starts'. Click
OK, and then right-click the Messenger icon in the notification area and choose Exit (or just
kill the msmsgs.exe process).

Now if you really want it *gone* for good, you can actually uninstall it. To do that, click
Start, then Run, and paste in the following:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
Then click OK.

Note that on your next visit to Windows Update, you'll probably see Windows Messenger as
recommended download, just select to hide that update if it bothers you there.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2009 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--



"czechmate" wrote in message
news
I don't use WM. I never have. I never will. I don't even want to enter a name
to display to anyone. I've lived 70 years without using it, and would be more
than content to never use it.
I suppose I could enter a user name just to shut it up, but then someone
might see that I was on-line in WM and try to communicate with me. I don't
want that.
How do I turn this thing off.....permanently? Currently, it pops up about
every 5 minutes if my computer is idle; if I click cancel, and let it be idle
again, it'll pop up again.